Winter in the Pacific North West is predictably gray and damp. Short days and weeks of rain put a damper on my photographic desires. Coupled with the still flourishing pandemic leading to government and self-imposed restrictions, I haven’t been out much or strayed too far from home. Nothing new there. All of my sane, reasonable, and empathetic friends have similar stories. When the weather gods cooperate, stringing a few days or even hours of sunshine together, we are out the door and walking. At this point, it doesn’t matter where, we just walk.
I had a few rolls of Lomo 800 in my film drawer, so I loaded up both of my Bronica backs, put on a mask, and out we went. I left my meter at home knowing the low winter sun and almost zero clouds would mean exposures of mostly f/5.6 – f/16 at 1/500th or 1/1000 of a second. I fully intended to use both rolls of film while wandering around, not being precious with it.
Here are a few of my snapshots. Interestingly, out of 24 exposures, there is not one with another person in the photo.
Shooting color negative film is pretty rare for me, but this time I was really looking forward to the whole process. I could develop and scan the film and even make a few small prints when the weather inevitably turned. I had also forgotten just how much I like the look of the Lomo 800 film. It dries flat after developing and is ridiculously easy to adjust and scan. The colors are an interesting combination of natural and neutral with certain colors being vivid, but not cartoonish. There is a bit of grain, but it isn’t overwhelming.
